Yangzhou University (YZU) is co-sponsored by the People’s Government of Jiangsu Province, the Ministry of Education of China and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs. It is a key comprehensive university of Jiangsu Province, and one of the first batch of universities authorized to grant both master's and doctoral degrees. The history of YZU can be traced back to as early as 1902, when its predecessors, Tongzhou Private Teachers School and Tonghai Agricultural School, were established.

Adopting the motto of "Perseverance and Self-reliance", YZU's education features a rich legacy in humanities, advantages in agricultural sciences, the integration of sciences and humanities, and a pluralistic development of various interdisciplines. Currently, there are 31,900 full-time undergraduate students and 16,200 postgraduate students on YZU campuses, including over 2,400 overseas students. Among the 2,900 full-time faculty members and over 2,200 medical staff, there are 2 Academicians of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. YZU's 32 colleges offer 127 undergraduate programs, covering the 13 disciplines of philosophy, economics, law, education, literature, history, science, engineering, agriculture, medicine, management science,art and interdisciplinary studies. The disciplines of agricultural science and chemistry have ranked the top 1‰ of ESI. YZU has 3 national key disciplines, 62 doctoral programs, and 254 master's programs.  YZU's overall competence as well as 14 disciplines, namely chemistry, plant and animal sciences, engineering, agricultural science, clinical medicine, material science, computer science, biology and biochemistry, pharmacology and toxicology, environmental ecology, microbiology, molecular biology , genetics, immunology and physics have entered ESI's top 1% among worldwide universities and research institutes. YZU has constructed over 50 platforms for teaching and scientific research that are of ministerial or provincial level or above, including a Joint International Laboratory and a Research Center for Regional and Cross-nation Studies, and has set up close cooperation and exchange relations with 320 higher education institutions and research institutes in 56 countries and regions.